Lincoln County supervisors passed a resolution to create a newfire grading district and postponed a decision on whether to closea county road during two public hearings Monday.

There was no one in attendance to oppose the creation of thefire district for Bogue Chitto.

Lincoln County Fire Coordinator Clifford Galey said the publichearing was the last step before supervisors could pass theresolution and tentatively create the district, pending approval ofthe State Ratings Bureau and other state agencies. Once approved,the fire grading district should lower insurance premiums forresidents in the covered area, Galey said.

“We’re a Category 10 district now,” he said. “We’re shooting foran eight, but we’re probably going to get a nine.”

The fire grading district will not take actual effect until itcan be graded by the ratings bureau, which will classify itsinsurance category, Galey said.

In other volunteer fire department action, Galey informed theboard the county had been approved for a $70,000 grant through theRural Fire Truck Acquisition Program for the Ruth Volunteer FireDepartment. The grant was received warmly by supervisors, who hadbeen seeking a $50,000 grant.

The money will be used to purchase a new fire truck for thedepartment, Galey said. The fire department will finance thedifference between the grant money and the actual cost of thetruck.

However, it will still be some time before the truck will beseen at the station, he said. Fire trucks typically take a year ortwo to build.

The board also held a public hearing to hear a petition by DanWallace to close a portion of Homer Lane off of Bogue Chitto Roadnear Interstate 55. Wallace owns the buildin, which is leased bySouthwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center for its clinic, atthe intersection of Homer Lane and Bogue Chitto Road

However, Wallace said, his desire was not really to close theroad.

“We keep saying close the road and I’m really just wanting toreroute it,” he said. “It runs across my parking lot right now andit don’t need to.”

Wallace proposed closing the portion of road that affects himand building a new intersection to allow the road to remainopen.

Homer Lane is not the sole access to any of the private propertybehind the clinic, he said.

Attempts to contact two residents who could possibly be affectedby the change to inform them of the public hearing had not receivedany response, said County Attorney Bob Allen. The law requires thatthose potentially affected by a change have to be notified.

The board postponed making a decision on the closure until itcould contact the two residents to get their views on theproposal.